Back in Time
by HarisaEnaja
Summary: Is Natsu Dragneel in love? Everyone in the guild is shocked when Natsu starts spending all his time with Nashi, another Fire mage. Lucy can't help but feel slightly replace and jealous, making her question how platonic her feeling for Natsu really are? Who is this Nashi girl that dropped out of the sky and where did she come from?-Nalu, slight - Galee, Gruvia, and Jerza
1. Chapter 1

"It's going to cost _how much_?"

Fairy Tails seventh master slid the bill across her desk so the other woman could see it for herself. Her friend sat down heavily and examined it looking for loopholes, then finding none gave an exhausted sigh.

"Erza, I'm so sorry. I'll have a talk with her." The blond haired woman assured the master, a worried wrinkle forming in the middle of her forehead.

Titanna Erza looked across the desk at the woman she considered a sister and frowned at how time had aged her. Her once free blond hair was constantly pulled back in a stern bun, elegant midnight robes hid her womanly figure and her chocolate eyes had small crinkles around them.

"You've already had several talks with her." Erza said, trying to control her temper. "Hell Lucy, this is the 3rd time this month I've gotten a bill for property damage! You're working yourself to death trying to pay off her debt, and it can't go on like this!"

"I know. It was kind of cute when she was younger, but I always figured she'd grow out of her destructive streak by now. I really don't think she _means_ to make things difficult, she just doesn't pay much attention to consequences….. Erza, what am I supposed to do?"  
The look in Lucy's eyes was desperate, but Erza had no answer for her. The situation was impossible, and Erza wished she could counsel her friend, but she honestly didn't know what she would do in Lucy's place. Time had not left the great Titanna untouched either as evident by the long white strip that flowed with her scarlet hair and she had her own wrinkles around the eyes.

Downstairs in the big hall, a pink haired girl about 17 years old watched the door to the master's office impatiently. They had been in there _all day_! It wasn't like she hadn't destroyed a town or two before, what could they be talking about?

"Do think we're going to get in real trouble this time?" Asked a pretty raven haired girl with metal piercings dotting her nose and eyebrows from beside her. She had looked up from the book she was reading long enough to notice where the first girl was looking.

"What the hell do you mean _we're_?" Questioned a tall blue haired boy who coolly leaned against a pillar. "Come one Meta, _We_ didn't do anything_. Nashi's_ the one who blew up the town!"

"Shut up fish-boy!" Muttered the first girl with a flick of annoyance. The raven haired girl put her book down and her red eyes took in the boy's appearance as he tried to look cool.

"Ghihe" She snort/chuckled "Lyon, you're naked." He looked down and shrieked.

"GAH!" His face turned red with embarrassment and he ungracefully waddled away trying to hide his privates. Nashi didn't even glance in his direction, but a small blush formed on her cheek bones. Her best friend saw it and gave another chuckle.

"Shut it Meta." Nashi warned, flicking her brown silted eyes warningly. Meta shrugged and put her hands up innocently.

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were thinking it" Nashi accused darkly. Meta shrugged and let the issue go, returning to her book.

The guild doors burst open as someone with great strength threw them apart letting the sunlight stream in. Many of the members sitting near the entrance quickly got up and moved away. Nashi, with her heightened senses, could smell the scent of fear coming from almost everyone in the room. Her lip twitched in annoyance, knowing she was probably going to get _yet another _lecture as a gigantic figure lumbered in and made its way toward them. The motherly looking woman behind the bar with silver hair and a pink apron smiled happily at the new comer.

"Welcome back Simone!"

"Thanks Mira!" Called a high pitched and innocent voice. With a grunt of effort most of the tall figures mass fell to the floor in the form of one of the biggest Vulcans anyone had ever seen revealing the person who had been carrying it. A small girl of only about seven years old stood with her scarlet hair in two long braids and wiped her hands on her dress. She looked down at her kill with satisfaction before hopping up to the bar and grinning a grin that was missing a few teeth.

"One vanilla milk shake, please." She asked sweetly, making sure to show off the gap in her mouth.

"Oh, you lost another tooth! That's wonderful!" Mira cooed kindly, knowing it was the response the girl was looking for.

"Yeah, the monster knocked it out in the fight. I can't wait to show momma! Is she in her office?"

"Yes, but you'd best not go up right now, she's still having a talk with Lucy." Mira told the girl, briefly glancing at Nashi when she did.

"Oh? Auntie Lucy's home? What are they talking about?"

A woman with dark curly hair and a voluptuous figure drained her beer in a single swig and gave a laugh. "What do you think they're talking about? Nashi destroyed another town, you don't need to be able to see the future to predict that those two are going to be pissed…"

"Would people stop saying that? I didn't destroy the _whole_ town" Nashi snapped, then muttered almost to herself "There were a couple of houses still standing."

"One house." Corrected Meta "One house survived….and it was the one you were trying to hit."

"Whose side are you even on?" Nashi grumbled. Suddenly the collar of her vest was hooked by tiny hands and she was pulled down to look face to face with the seven year old beside her.

"You did it _again_!" Seethed the child. "Don't you understand how much debt this guild is in already?" Simone pulled out a short dirk from her belt and held it against Nashi's throat right above the spot on her chest that held her guild tattoo. "How dare you dishonor Fairy Tail with your carelessness! Why I ought to….." Nashi swallowed audibly as a bead of sweat trailed down her forehead.

"Simone, that's enough." Commanded a soft but strict voice from the balcony. The two girls turn to see their mothers looking down on them with disapproval. Simone immediately let go of Nashi and gave a slight bow of apology to her mother/guild master. Nashi however refused to meet Lucy's eyes and suddenly became very interested in a bit of dirt that was stuck beneath her nails.

"Nashi, we're going home." Lucy stated while gracefully gliding down the stairs toward the exit.

Nashi huffed dramatically and protested "But Mom, Meta and I were going to….." Lucy's eyes flashed dangerously "Now Nashi!" She commanded her daughter before calmly walking out of the guild. Nashi frowned, realizing that she was in real trouble for once. She gave an apologetic wave good-bye to the raven haired girl before following her mother.

Nashi watched Lucy's back as they walked in silence and Lucy didn't turn around to look at her. Nashi figured she was saving the yelling and the speeches for when they got in the privacy of their home, and was not looking forward to it. Part of her was actually really glad to see her mother, seeing as she had been gone for a month on a mission. When Lucy had gotten back they'd only had time for a brief hello hug before Erza had called her up to her office. Now Lucy seemed too angry to even speak with her daughter and Nashi felt a small stab of hurt and guilt. She was used to her mother always being away on missions. Lucy was the strongest mage in Fiorre, of course she would be busy. But sometimes Nashi wished her mother wasn't such a powerful wizard, so she could just be like a normal mom.

Nashi hopped up and balanced across the stone railing next to the river with her arms out for balance. "Nashi, get down from there." Lucy order tiredly. She had only asked her not to do it about a million times. The pink haired girl rolled her eyes and did as she was told, not wanting to push her mother any further.

They soon arrived at the small apartment Lucy had had since she first moved to Magnolia. Sighing with relief that she was finally home, Lucy opened the door and was suddenly tense again. She let loose a growl of annoyance.

"Nashi….." The apartment was in total shambles and looked like somebody had ransacked it. There were clothes and books scattered everywhere, even half eaten food plates stacked up in the windows. Lucy looked like she was about to scold and the girl braced herself for it, but was surprise when her mother let out a resigned sigh. She sunk into an arm chair with a defeated look on her face.

Nashi was stunned. She'd never seen her mother act like that and was more than a little spooked by it. "Mom?" She questioned, concerned. There was an uncomfortable silence in the air before Lucy finally spoke.

"What am I going to do with you Nashi?" Lucy asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"It wasn't _that _bad" The girl said defensively and kicked at a piece of clothing on the floor.

"An entire town is now homeless!"

"They'll rebuild, and the architecture was terrible anyway. Really, if you think about it, I did them a favor."

"Three people had to go to the hospital!"

"Yeah, okay, I messed up there" Nashi admitted "But one of those was Lyon and his leg only got burned because he was stalking me and, you know, not wearing any pants so he doesn't really count….."

"Nashi this is serious!" Lucy said slapping her hand down on the table and making the girl jump. "Your grandfather said you had to control your magic when he agreed to teach you!"

"But Mom, I _am_ in control. Just because I made one mistake…."

"But it isn't one mistake! I've only been away for a month and Erza says this is already the _third time_!" Nashi balled her hands up in fists, emotion building in her chest.

"You aren't even going to ask me what happened? Don't you care at all about _my_ side of the story?"

"Okay Nashi, what happened?" Lucy snapped in interrogation. "What possible reason could justify that much raw destruction?" Nashi felt her eyes sting as they swelled with frustrated tears. This was not the homecoming with her mother she had ever wanted.

"You just don't understand!" She screamed. She hated herself for feeling so emotional, but couldn't control the rage she was feeling.

"I understand that you were being careless, and people got hurt because of it!" Lucy said. The disappointment in Lucy's voice cut the pink haired girl like a knife, causing her to completely loose what little control she had left.

"Dad would! If he were here, Dad would understand!" She yelled as burning hot tears escaped down her cheeks and Nashi angrily brushed them away with the back of her hand. Lucy let out a little huff of air like she'd been punched in the stomach. Nashi knew she'd gone too far, and immediately regretted it. Through the haze of tears she could see the older woman's face looking completely heartbroken, as it always did whenever _he_ was mentioned.

After a long time, Lucy gritted her teeth and looked into her daughters chocolate eyes, so similar to her own. "Maybe…..Maybe he would have, but he's…."She swallowed forcing out the words. "He's not here. I_ am_. I am your mother and I am doing the absolute best I can!" She broke the eye contact and pointed toward Nashi's bedroom door. "You need to learn that there are consequences to your actions, so staring right now, you are _grounded_."

Nashi gritted her teeth and muttered something that sounded like "Fine." Before going to her room and slamming the door.

The second she was gone, Lucy buried her face in her hands and let her tears flow. She felt so lost and frustrated, unsure of how to help her daughter.

When Nashi had first started to spew fire and it became evident that she was a dragon slayer like her father, the whole guild had set out on a mission to find someone who could teach her how to control it. After months of increasingly desperate searching, they had finally tracked down none other than the girl's own dragon grandfather. Every summer since she was seven years old, Nashi had gone to train with Igneel. He taught her many things, and her skill as a wizard grew exponentially, but Igneel warned that she had unresolved feelings that were causing her to lose control.

Lucy felt guilty that she had not been there more. While she was away on her mission she had kept herself company by imagining all the wonderful things she and her daughter were going to do the second she got back. Instead they had just gotten into a huge shouting match.

She walked over and took a small box off the bookshelf. A quiet sob shook her shoulders as she gently touched the burnt fabric inside. It was the remains of what had once been a checkered white scarf.

"She's right. You would know what to do." She whispered to the scarf, holding it against her chest. "Oh Natsu, I miss you."

Nashi's excellent senses allowed her to hear her mother's words and smell the salty scent of tears in the other room. She curled up into bed, pulling the covers up over her head and cried herself to sleep.

* * *

It was late, possibly one or two in the morning when a light tapping sound on the window woke her up. She stirred lazily and turned to see the Meta's grinning face outside looking in, her piercings shinning in the moonlight.

"Finally!" Meta complained when Nashi let her in. "I thought you would never wake up! Jeez Nash, you sleep like a log." The raven haired girl took in her friend's appearance and noticed the puffiness around her eyes.

"That bad?" She asked softly. Nashi nodded, but then threw her best friend a look that said she didn't want to talk about it. Meta got the message. "Well I know what will cheer you up." She said "Want to break into the advanced section of the guild library with me?"

Nashi looked away putting on a fake pout and batted her eyelashes.

"But Meta, I'm _grounded_." Meta raised an eyebrow and the two girls looked seriously at each other for a minute before they both burst into a fit of giggles.

"Just give me a sec to get dressed." Nashi said grabbing some clothes. Meta was glad to see the girl's trade mark fanged grin sprawled across her face as the two nimbly hopped out the window.

Not far away the blue haired boy who had been sleeping against a tree woke up to the sound of them hitting the pavement. He ducked further behind the tree so they wouldn't see him.

The two girls stopped and Nashi called softly into the night. "Hey water weirdo! We're going to go break into the guild, you coming?" Lyon sighed, knowing he'd been found.

"Yeah fine, wait up flame-head!" He called back, gathering up the clothes that had somehow left his body in his sleep and putting them on. He jogged to catch up with the girls. "How did you know I was there?"

"You're always stalking Nashi, where else would you be?" Meta teased and both of her companions turned slightly pink, ignoring the insinuation.

They got into the guild though a third floor window and tip-toed through the dark halls, Nashi's lit finger lighting the way. They went all the way to the back of the library to a section that was closed off behind a padlocked door. While Nashi held her finger up for light, Meta bent down to the lock, her fingers suddenly becoming long metal spikes and she got to work picking the lock.

"Gi hi hi." She chuckled happily when it sprung open, letting them in. The two girls stood with their mouths open, drooling at all of the books before them. Lyon shrugged, unimpressed. They spent several hours browsing the titles. Meta soon found a book about script magic and sat down at a nearby table, completely absorbed in it. Lyon was entertaining himself by breaking off little pieces of his water body and turning it into pretty miniature ice sculptures.

Nashi found a book about supposedly lost magic. It was talking about time magic in particular, and she found it fascinating. The main question the author seemed to be wrestling with was- can you change the past? Or is everything that is now, destined to happen? The more she read, them more an unimaginable thought burrowed itself into her mind.

What if she _could_ change the past? What if she could go back and stop herself from destroying the town, and therefor stop her mother from being mad at her. Going back further, what if she could go back in time and meet her father? He had died before she was even born, and she wondered what he was like. What if she could stop him from ever dying in the first place?

"What are you doing in here?" Screeched a high pitched voice. The three trespassers jolted up, only to look down at the furious gaze of a terrifying seven year old.

"Simone! What are _you_ doing here?" The red headed girl pointed her small sword at Lyons throat, since he was closest.

"I'm standing guard over the guild. Making sure nobody tries to break in and steel our secrets in the middle of the night! What's _your _excuse?"

"Dose Aunt Erza know you're here?" Meta asked calmly, ignoring the question. The little girl paled and she knew she'd hit the nail on the head.

"N-no." Simone said dropping her sword from Lyons throat. Then a determined look entered the little monsters eyes. "No she doesn't know, but she soon will. I'm going to go wake her up because whatever you guys are doing is a lot worse!" The girl turned and started to run away.

"Stop! You little tattle-tail!" Nashi cried, chasing after her. In the process she dropped the book she was holding.

When the book hit the floor, the room was suddenly flooded by white light. Nashi felt like someone had just picked her up and tossed her around in a circle as the familiar feeling of motion sickness squeezed her stomach.

Suddenly she was falling, as if out of the sky. She braced herself for a hard impact with the ground, but was surprised when she landed on something squishy. Looking around, she knew exactly where she was, it was a street in Magnolia she'd been to many times, but somehow it looked different.

"Ooofff" The something squishy said. Nashi looked down to see that she was sitting on top of someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She apologized, helping him to his feet. Then her eyes flew wide and she doubted the truth in what she was seeing. The man before her had wild pink hair that spiked out in an uncontrollable manner around his onyx eyes that bored into her. She looked at the live version of the face she had studied in pictures all her life. There was irritation on his features as he rubbed his back where she'd fallen on him.

"Hey, watch it will you?" He scolded, then looked up at the sky in confusion. "Where did you even come from?" He was stopped from further musing by a voice calling his name.

"Natsu, watch out!"

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the opponent he had been fighting before the interruption of the flying girl shoot a magical blast their way. He cursed, grabbing the pink haired girl next to him, who was still staring at him like she'd never seen anything so shocking in her life, and pushed her to the ground as the blast flew over them.

Finally understanding that they were in the middle of a battle, the girl snapped out of her state and tried to get up. However the man on top of her held her down, looking into her eyes with a startled expression. He leaned down and sniffed her.

"What?" He murmured to himself "that's not _possible_."

"Natsu!" Called the voice again, snapping him out of his thoughts. It would have to wait until later.

They both stood to see their opponent now battling an orange haired man in a suit and a young blond woman with whip. They were both ferociously fending off a rapid fire of magical attacks.

One of the shots hit the blond girl, knocking her into a wall. Natsu growled menacingly and ran at his opponent with a flaming first.

"Fire dragon- roar!" Natsu screamed, and the powerful attack hit the dark mage full on. He stumbled back, realizing this was not a battle he could win.

"You win this one Dragneel, but I'll be back." The man threatened "You haven't seen the last of Dark Horizons." He wrapped himself up in his long black cape and disappeared, leaving no trace that he had been there.

Nashi had frozen at the sound of the dark guilds name. It was with them, Dark Horizons, that Fairy Tail fought the fateful battle that took her father's life. She looked over at said father, who was breathing heavily and cussing in frustration that the other man had escaped.

A small cry of pain grabbed both pinkettes attention and they turned to see the young blond woman being cradled in the other man's arms. She was cradling her arm and the bones twisted in an unnatural way.

"Lucy!" Natsu cried, approaching his partner in alarm. She waved him off with her good arm. "I'm okay, it's just a broken arm." The she looked up at the orange haired man who held her. "Really Loki, their no need to pick me up!"

"I'm so sorry, it's my fault you got hurt." Loki said. "I'll take you to Wendy immediately!"

"Mom?" Nashi whispered. No one but Natsu with his sensitive hearing heard it. Nashi was looking at Lucy with wide eyes. She was shocked by how young she looked, and the relaxed way she held her body. Even with a broken arm she wasn't as tensed up as the mother she knew. Lucy caught Nashi staring at her and was about to say something when Loki disappeared with her in her arms, carrying his master though the spirit world, which was the fastest way.

Natsu and Nashi were left alone on the empty street, the rest of the citizens having fled from the battle. He was regarding her with an uneasy look, as if he were unsure if he could trust what his senses where telling him. She just stared at him, hoping flies weren't flying into her open mouth. He was younger than she'd always imagined him, and shorter too.

"You know it's rude to stare." He said gently. She had to swallow hard to get any use back in her throat, but even then she couldn't think of anything to say. He sighed.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Nashi." She said before she could think of a reason why not to. He smiled and extended his hand to her.

"Hi Nashi, I'm Natsu." She took his hand tentatively. The moment their palms touched it was like electricity shot through her. Acting on instinct and an unfulfilled lifelong desire, she pulled him closer and threw her hands around him in a hug, burring her face in his chest. He was warmer than she could have imagined and she couldn't help the tears that slipped out, soaking his vest.

Natsu blinked in shock as the girl wrapped herself around him, his arms flailing because he didn't know what to do with them. Then he smelled her scent, the impossible one he had smelled before and something in his mind clicked. He sucked in a deep breath, slowly processing the possibility. Wrapping his own arms around her, he hugged her back and stroked her pink hair with his hand.

"Shhh, its okay" He soothed her, trying to hide his own panic. "It's okay, I'm here."

Nashi had wanted to hear him say those words her whole life and her sobbing increased. Natsu looked around, alarmed and thinking he had done something wrong.

"I-I'm sorry!" He apologized. He, the man who had just nearly turned a dark mage to ashes, sounded so insecure and confused that Nashi let out a small laugh. She pulled away and whipped her tears, embarrassed.

"No, I'm sorry. That was probably very confusing for you, I mean you don't even know who I am…." She rambled, then stopped to consider if she should tell him who she was. What if telling him messed up the future?

"What date is it?" She asked him suddenly. She had to figure out how far back she'd gone.

"July 7th." Natsu said, tilting his head as if that would give him a different view of her.

"No," She said, shaking her head. "The year?"

Natsu tensed up and stared at her in amazement, her question seaming to confirm his earlier suspicion.

"X792." She nodded. Three years, it was three full years before the final battle took place. This was good, maybe it meant she had time to fix things. Time to stop her father from dying.

"Nashi," Natsu said in a quiet but reverent voice, so that she could barely hear him. She looked up at him. "You're beautiful."

This time it was her turn to blink in shock. Did he know who she was? How? As if reading her mind, he shrugged sheepishly and grinned at her; a fanged smile like her own.

"You have your mother's eyes." He said, tears welling up in the corners of his own as Natsu Dragneel looked at his daughter. Her lip quivered.

"Dad!" She cried and ran back into his arms. He caught her and held her tight, marveling at her very existence and never wanting to let her go.

* * *

**Some explanations (In case it wasn't clear):**

** Nashi = 17 years old, Daughter of Lucy and Natsu**

**Meta= 15 years old, Daughter of Levy and Gajeel**

**Lyon= 18 years old, son of Juvia and Grey**

**Simone= 7 years old, Daughter of Erza and Jellal**


	2. Chapter 2

They sat on a bridge over the river, hanging their feet over the water and watching as the sun slowly set. At first it had been a little awkward between them, neither quite knowing what to say and both trying not to stare for too long. Natsu was amazed by how much she looked like Lucy. The shape of her face, her eyes, her nose, her body type; those all resembled her mother. But the color of her hair and the shape of her eyes, those belonged to him. He wanted to know everything about her.

She had explained to him about the book in the guild library. He nodded, having had a similar experience* with a different book.

"Well, I guess we can go to the library now and see if the book's there. It probably has some way to get you back to your own time." He said, crossing his arms over his body.

"Go Back?" Nashi said surprise. "But Dad, I don't want to go back!" Natsu smiled a little when she called him that, but looked at her quizzically.

"Why not? Your mother and I are probably worried in the future."

Nashi sighed, looking away from him and muttered in a small voice "I doubt she even notices I'm gone." Natsu frowned unhappily. He didn't like the thought of Lucy and Nashi fighting, but didn't press the issue.

"What about me? I'm sure I'm going crazy with worry…." He stopped when he saw the look on her face. "Nashi?" He asked, automatically reaching a hand out to comfort her. A hundred worst case scenarios ran quickly through his mind and he wanted to punch future him for whatever he did to make his daughter have that look on her face.

"You died." She told him, her eyes fixed on the river below. "Before I was even born….. There was a big battle, all the official guilds in Fiorre banded together to take out this one really powerful Dark Guild named 'Dark Horizons'. I don't know a lot about what happened, because no one likes to talk about it. I just know a lot of people got hurt or killed. Uncle Gray lost his hand, Happy lost his eye and Wendy was in a coma for over a year. Mom was pregnant with me so she stayed behind. My friend Lyon was just two days old, and Aunt Juvia left him with Mom so she could go fight with Uncle Gray. When they got back, they named him after a friend of theirs who also died in the battle. "

Natsu's hands clenched at his sides as he mentally saw what she described. His friends hurt and dying before him. The knowledge of his own death didn't bother him so much, as the thought of what came after. There was a deep sorrow in his heart thinking about leaving Lucy to raise Nashi all alone. He had grown up half his childhood without his father, and hated that Nashi had never had one to begin with.

"But….. I'm going to stop it!" Nashi interrupted his dark thoughts. She had a look of frightening and stubborn determination on her face. "I'm not going to let it happen, no matter what, you're not going to die this time!" He smiled, feeling proud at her resolve.

"Well Dark Horizons is a relatively new guild right now. They popped out of nowhere about a month ago. Lucy, Happy and I were on an easy mission near Harogon and we accidently ran into them." He growled slightly at the memory from earlier that day "I still can't believe that guy followed us and had the nerve to attack us in our own town! He defiantly doesn't know who he's decided to make enemies of." He looked over at his daughter. "and now, instead of one Dragneel he's gonna have to deal with_ two_."

Nashi beamed happily and two shared and excited high five.

"So I can stay?" She asked. The prospect of getting more time to get to know her father had her feeling almost giddy. He grinned back at her, feeling the same way.

"Of course! But I don't think it's such a great idea to tell the rest of the guild who you are." Nashi nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it would probably freak them out. What should we tell them?"

He thought about it, running his hands through his pink hair.

"I guess we'll just say you're another dragon slayer like me. We'll tell them you were just passing through when we met, and decided to stay. It's mostly true after all."

"But what about this?" She asked pointing to the Guild mark right above her heart. Natsu took off his scarf and wrapped it around her neck, positioning it so that it hid her tattoo.

"There. No one will ever notice." He said and they grinned twin smiles at each other.

* * *

Across the river, a white haired woman exited a shop with a bag of groceries in her hands. She was lost in thought, thinking about the things she had to get done that day when the two figures on the bridge caught her eye. She recognized the pink haired boy and expected to see a blond head sitting next to him, but had to do a double take when she realized the person next to him also had pink hair. Looking closer, her jaw dropped open as she took in the two's close proximity and realized that the second person was a girl.

"Oh my." Mira whispered. Then she shook her head, scolding herself for automatically thinking those thoughts. It was _Natsu_ after all.

Then her eyes nearly bulged out of her head as she watched him take off his scarf, his most prized possession, and drape it around the girls neck. She watched them for a good ten more minutes until the couple got up and left. When they were gone, Mira turned and nearly ran to the guild, forgetting the rest of her shopping completely.

* * *

Lucy's arm had been bandaged and she now sat alone in the infirmary after Loki left. She had expected Natsu to come and check on her, but she figured something must have held him up. It was just a broken arm after all, she had been through worse. But as the time ticked by and Natsu still didn't show, she couldn't help but feel a little hurt.

She was also curious about the strange way he'd been looking at the pink haired girl. Lucy hadn't seen when and where she arrived from, but the second she appeared Natsu had gotten distracted and almost gotten himself shot. She rolled her eyes, irritated at his carelessness. Didn't he know that if something happened to him, she'd be totally lost?

Finally giving up on the idea of people coming to check on her, she went downstairs to join the rest of the guild. Mira was talking excitedly to a group near the bar, who regarded her with a mix of disbelief and skepticism.

"And then he put his scarf around her!" Mira squealed. Lucy joined them, interested after hearing the word scarf. She only knew one person who always wore a scarf.

"Mira, maybe she was just cold, and Natsu was being kind." Wendy said. Mira shot her a look of annoyance that had Wendy cowering.

"What are we talking about?" Lucy asked while taking a drink. Then again, she was unsure if she wanted to know. There was usually only one thing Mira got this serious about.

"Natsu's in loooovvvvveee!" Mira gushed, hearts replacing her eyes. Lucy spluttered and spit out her drink. Happy was cackling madly, thoroughly enjoying the conversation.

"What!?" Lucy said, going red in the face. "With who?" Mira looked sad at the question.

"I wish I knew. I saw them together at the bridge by the magic shop. She was very pretty though. Oh, I really hope he brings her here to meet everyone!"

"He won't if he has any sense." Luxus muttered "One look at this lot and she'll be running for the hills."

"Maybe what you saw, wasn't what you thought." Lisanna said to her sister, a little sad. Lucy felt bad for the girl, knowing she had a crush on Natsu.

Just then the guild doors opened and Natsu walked in. Several people had to do a double take when they saw that he was holding hands with a very pretty pink haired girl, who was also wearing his scarf around her neck.

"Hey everyone, there's someone I'd like you to meet." He pulled the girl forward, like he was showing her off to the group. "This is Nashi."

There was a shocked silence before most people snapped out of their traces and greeted Nashi warmly. Mira practically fainted.

The girl smiled and looked around the room, moving from face to face with an awed expression. Her eyes stopped on Lucy and studied her features, which made Lucy blush. Natsu followed Nashi's gaze and nudged the girl in the ribs so that she looked away. He went and took a seat at the bar by Lucy and Nashi sat on his other side.

"So Nashi, can I get you anything to eat or drink?" Mira asked.

"Some fire please Mira, I'm starving!" Mira stared at the girl.

"Um, Nashi is a fire-dragon slayer, like me!" Natsu explained, coming to her rescue. "We met today on the street and decided to hang out and trade techniques!"

"Y-yeah!" Nashi agreed whole-heartedly "And I knew your name because….because….Because you're the great Mirajane! I've seen you in sorcerer weekly! Actually, that's where I know a lot of you from" Mira nodded acceptingly and went to go get Nashi a stick of fire, while the girl mentally congratulated herself on the quick thinking.

"Why is she wearing your scarf?" Cana asked bluntly. He eyes were slightly out of focus and she was clearly drunk.

"I was, um…..cold." Nashi said weakly. Several people exchanged looks that meant they didn't buy this lie for a second, but if the two fire wizards wanted to keep their relationship a secret, it was their business.

"Hey Flame Brain!" Yelled a familiar voice. Both Natsu and Nashi turned at the same time, the same expression on their faces.

"Err, I meant him." Gray said awkwardly. Nashi was surprise by how much young Gray looked and sounded like his future son. They were identical except for the hair color.

"We never settled our earlier argument." Gray accused, poking his figure in Natsu's chest.

"Yes we did, I was right." Was the fire mages cocky reply. Gray growled in frustration.

"You moron, I bet you don't even remember what we were fighting about."

"Doesn't matter, I was still right."

"Why you…."

Next thing Nashi knew the two were going at it in an all-out brawl. Natsu was putting in special effort to show off for his daughter and she was eating it up.

"GO Natsu! Beat his ass!" She cheered.

Mira watched the whole scene and said with a dreamy sigh to Lucy. "Oh how cute, he's showing off. Aren't they just _perfect_ for each other?"

"Yeah, perfect." Lucy muttered, feeling strangely hollow. When she had first arrived at the guild, Natsu hadn't even gotten her name right, let alone shown her attention like this. _It's because he's never met another fire-dragon slayer._ She thought to herself, _That's the only reason he thinks she so special_.

By this point, the fight had grown to include 90% of the guild all throwing punches at whoever was closest. Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy saw a chair thrown by Evergreen (intending to hit Elfman in the back of the head) fly toward the pink haired girl who wasn't looking.

"Get down!" She yelled, lunging for Nashi and grabbing her wrist. She yanked her out of the way just in time. The girl bumped into Lucy's new cast, causing her to wince in pain.

"Opps!" Nashi exclaimed "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you!" The girl braced herself like she expected Lucy to shout at her, but Lucy smiled genuinely. "Don't worry about it" She said, deciding on the spot that she liked the pinkettes character."

Nastsu came rushing over and inspected Nashi for damage. "Are you hurt?" He asked her worriedly, and she shook her head and rolled her eyes embarrassed. Natsu obviously decided the guild hall was now far too dangerous a place to bring his new friend because he grabbed her arm and led her outside. He didn't even stop to say goodbye to Lucy or Happy as he went. Lucy stared after him for a minute, thinking about following before deciding they probably needed time to do 'dragon-slayer stuff'.

"Bye Natsu." She whispered to her drink, knowing he couldn't hear her.


	3. Chapter 3

"That was so awesome!" Nashi gushed. "You totally kicked Uncle Gray's butt! He was like 'Ice make this' and you were all 'Fire Dragon that'" She mimicked their moves in illustration. Never in her time was there such fun fights. She and Lyon were the only two that ever really tested their skills against each other, and they both knew better than to fight inside the guild hall under Erza's watchful eyes.

"Uncle Gray's magic is so much faster now, since he used both hands. But he was no match for those flames…I wish I could do fire magic that." Natsu chuckled proudly at his daughter's complements, then turned to look at her confused.

"Why can't you? I thought you were a fire dragon slayer?" He asked, thinking maybe he had gotten the wrong impression from her scent.

"Oh no, I'm a fire dragon slayer. I just have trouble controlling it sometimes." She admitted. "Last time I took a job, I ended up destroying a whole town."

"ha, so what?" Natsu said. She looked up in surprise, having expected him to scold or lecture her like everyone else had. "I've destroyed plenty of towns, no big deal."

"_You_ _have_?"

"Yeah, actually the first time I met your mom, we ended up getting run out of town. Between my fire and Aquarius waves, we ended up destroying half of Haregon."

"Wait_, Mom_ was part of this?"

Natsu began a full recount of how Lucy and he met as they wandered through the streets of Magnolia. He was surprised by how little Nashi knew of their adventures, and was happy to share his version of events. She soaked up every bit, enthralled by the stories.

As they walked they soon came across a crowd of people by the train station. Natsu spotted a familiar face in the crowd.

"Hey Juvia! What's going on?" He asked after squeezing a path through the crowd for Nashi and himself.

"Juvia doesn't know." The blue haired water mage admitted with a shrug. "The man said someone stopped the train. Juvia thought she heard her beloved Gray's voice, but she does not see him anywhere" her head swiveled around looking for the dark haired ice wizard. Nashi got a suspicious feeling in her gut- a suspicion that was confirmed a minute later when a familiar voice shouted loud enough for them to hear over the crowd.

"Would you stop it! Jeez, and you're supposed to be the smart one!"

"Gray?" Juvia called out, confused. Nashi and Natsu fallowed her as she cut her way to the platform. When they got to the train they saw a tall blue haired boy forcibly trying to restrain a raven haired girl with metal piercings along her face.

"Let me go! Stupid train. I'll teach it to regret making _me_ sick!" She broke free of his hold and animalisticlly pounced on the train's engine. With razor sharp, shark like teeth, the girl growled and took a big bite out of the smoke stack. The nearby conductor looked like he was about to pass out.

"Meta_, you can't eat the train_." The boy sighed, knowing it was pointless.

Chomp. chomp. "Watch me!" She said with a full mouth.

Nashi ran toward her friends with a big smile on her face as she greeted them.

"Meta! Lyon!"

Meta stopped mid chew to look in the direction her name was being called. Spitting out a large chuck of locomotive, she nimbly hopped down and ran to the other girl.

"Nashi!" She exclaimed excitedly and the two best friends hugged. When they released each other, Nashi automatically turned to Lyon with her arms out stretched. He mirrored her gesture and they were about five inches apart when they realized they were about to hug. Both immediately dropped their arms and awkwardly looked away from each other, blushing madly.

"Flame head." He grumbled.

"Water wimp."

Natsu narrowed his eyes at the boy, suddenly suspicious.

Juvia was peering at Lyon with confusion. "Gray-sama?" she asked, walking up to him and poking him in the head. She initially thought that it was grey with dyed hair, but there were subtle differences.

"Ow!"Lyon stumbled away from his attacker. Suddenly his eyes grew as big as dinner plates as recognized her.

"M-Mom?"

They stared at each other as Juvia processed this. She looked at Lyon, then at Nashi and Natsu, then back to Lyon. Nashi decided they should take pity on the poor woman and decided to tell her the truth.

"Aunt Juvia, we're from the future. He's your son." Lyon gave her a crooked half smile in confirmation.

Again Juvia's eyes darted between Lyon, Nashi and Natsu until something clicked.

"AAHHHHHH!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and jumped on Lyon, wrapping her arms around him. The poor boy looked scared to death.

"What do I do?" He mouthed desperately to them as thick tears fell down Juvia's cheeks and soaked his shirt. She was sobbing so uncontrollably that they could only make out a few of her words including _Baby, Little Gray-samma_, and _I knew it_.

Lyon gently patted her on the back, while everyone else on the platform snickered at his pain.

"So if that's Lyon" Natsu said, his lip curling slightly as he said the boy's name. "Then you must be Meta, Gajeel and Levy's kid."

"And you must be Natsu Dragneel" Meta said. "I got say, from the stories my dad tells, I thought you'd be taller." He frowned at that while Nashi put a hand over her mouth to hide a laugh.

"I'm guessing you know who we are because Nashi told you," Meta continued. "But I don't know if that was the best idea. We've obviously been sent to the past, and depending on if you accept Albert's theory of constant time flow or the Steve Hawk proposal of influx and branch universes, we could cause a paradox with irreversible damage."

"Huh?" Natsu said, looking to his daughter for translation.

"She's always doing this" She told him and rolled her eyes. "Meta, like I've told you, you've got to explain it like we're five." The raven haired girl sighed before continuing.

"Basically, we don't know what we're doing, we could mess things up here in the past and change things in the future."

"That's what the book was talking about." Nashi explained "But that's the point! Meta, I want to change the future. I finally met my dad, and now that we've got a second chance, I'm not going to let him die again" Natsu put a hand comfortingly on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"But what if we accidently mess things up without meaning to? What if we stop ourselves from ever being born? That would be what's called a paradox, and it would be very bad."

"Why, what would happen?" Natsu asked. Meta blushed slightly.

"Well….I don't actually _know_. But I'm sure it would be really bad!"

Natsu shrugged, "well it's too late for Juvia and I, we already know. But maybe we should keep this secret from the rest of the guild, just in case you're right."

"Oh my god, Meta! Wait till you see them!" Nashi squealed delightedly grabbing her best friend's hand. "everyone looks so young, and everyone's so happy, the guild in this time is so much _fun_!" She grabbed Meta's hand and dragged her in the direction of the guild. Natsu followed after, a slight frown on his face when he remembered earlier when Nashi had almost had her head taken off by a chair. Even though he'd known her for less than a day, he had never felt protective instincts so strong as he did for Nashi. The very thought of something happening to her made his throat close up.

"Hey, guy's wait up!" Lyon called after them. He waddled after the three dragon slayers, dragging his mother who was still secured tightly around his neck.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry guy's, short chapter and I probably won't have time to post anything for about a week because of spring break. But I'm not giving up on my stories! Also, I love reviews (I get this warm fuzzy feeling when i get them) so if you have ideas where the story should go or have found a fault somewhere, feel free to let me know!**


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